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Show Country Develops ' Mineral and Germany No Longer Has the Whip Hand. WASHINGTON, Oct. 4. Dependent I almost wholly upon Germany for potash pot-ash at the outbreak of the war the United States within two years will be able to manufacture enough of the mineral to supply the nation's needs. Secretary Lane made this announcement announce-ment tonight in reviewing the progress made by private concerns and the department de-partment of tho interior in developing means of producing potash. . "Germany has thought all along and still thinks, no doubt, that she has a whiphand over America because of her supply of potash," said a sttaement issued is-sued by Secretary Lane, "but America can in two years become entirely independent in-dependent of Germany In this regard by the development of her own deposits depos-its and the use of processes devised by the department of the interior." Potash Made From Kelp. In addition to the manufacture of potash from the Brine lakes of California, Cali-fornia, Nebraska and " other states from kelp or seaweed of the Pacific I coast and from various minerals, tho secretary said that through processes discovered by Dr. Frederick Cottrell, chief -metallurgist of the bureau of mines, potash was now being made from smelter, blast furnace and cement ce-ment plant by-products which heretofore here-tofore were considered not only useless use-less but injurious. Fumes from smelters smelt-ers aro now being used in the manufacture manu-facture of the mineral, while from tho dust of cement plants, experts have figured, the potash produced soon will reach 100,000 tons annually. Through I the cleaning of blast furnace gases potash is being made. It has been found that best iron ores for producing produc-ing potash are found in the south, where more than fifty per cent of the potash is needed, mostly for the cotton cot-ton crop. A single large blast furnace, furn-ace, it Is estimated, will yield from 5000 to 7000 tons of potash yearly. Secretary Lane disclosed that the whole of Searles lake in California has been leased by his department to a number of companies who have undertaken under-taken to erect plants for the reduction of potnsh from brine. From alunlte and leucite, two minerals hitherto regarded re-garded as worthless, potash is being obtained in Utah and Wyoming. |